This week on Womanity-Women in Unity, Dr. Amaleya Goneos-Malka talks to soprano Pretty Yende, who has made her mark in the world of opera, performing in Paris, Berlin, London, Vienna, Milan, New York, Barcelona and many more cities.

As a sixteen-year-old Pretty was contemplating her future as an accountant, until one evening a British Airways television advert featuring Delibes’ Flower Duet exposed her to the sound of opera, touching her heart in an extraordinary way.

Studying at the South African College of Music she entered and won international competitions and went on to graduate from the Academia Teatro La Scala in Milan. Shortly afterwards she was asked to step in for a colleague and starred in the role of Adèle in Rossini’s Le comte Ory at the New York Metropolitan Opera.  

She walks us through some of the milestones in her career and memorable characters she has played. She shares insights into some of the challenges she has experienced and the grounding that faith, family and friends provide; the #prettyarmy.

In closing Pretty reminds us that we are all born unique and each of us have our instruments to share with the world, and echoes Nelson Mandela’s words, “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

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